1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus that has an image pick-up unit that picks up an image of an object, and a projecting unit that projects imaging light onto the image pick-up region of the image pick-up unit.
2. Related Art
There have been known techniques for sending instructions from a remote place with the use of images. By those techniques, an image of a predetermined region picked up by a camera is transmitted to a remote place, and an annotation image based on an instruction from the remote place is projected onto the image pick-up region of the camera by a projector.
In those techniques, the camera and the projector are housed in a casing and are shielded from external light, and the optical system of the camera and the optical system of the projector are designed to share the same optical axis with the help of a half mirror, so that each one of the image pick-up ranges of the camera corresponds to a projecting range.
In a case where the camera and the projector are housed in a casing, and the optical system of the camera and the optical system of the projector are designed to share the same optical axis with the help of a half mirror, as described above, the imaging light not to be used for projection among the imaging light emitted from the projector toward the half mirror might scatter as stray light in the casing and enter the camera. Therefore, a light attenuating member called a “trap” to absorb and attenuate the imaging light not to be used for projection is placed in such a position as to receive the imaging light not to be used for projection, as opposed to the half mirror.